[CLOSED] QUICK POLL: Venezuela's sovereign debt

Author: IFLR Correspondent | Published: 5 Feb 2019

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[As countries and organisations around the world
choose to recognise the Venezuelan leader of the opposition
Juan Guaidó as its new interim president, and calls for
Nicolas Maduro to stand aside grow louder, the question of what
to do about the country’s rising debt has
resurfaced.

Venezuela reportedly has more than $60 billion of publically
traded debt, much of it issued by state-owned oil company
PDVSA. In the Maduro-era the country has regularly failed to
make repayments, and default is looking increasingly
likely.

As global players like the US, the UK and the EU back
Guaidó, a regime change is potentially close. The
humanitarian crisis the country has been suffering for several
years may too be nearing an end.

There are suggestions that while the country undergoes an
economic recovery and attempts to rebuild from years of damage,
holders of its debt should accept some form of negotiated terms
that would allow resources to be directed to this task
– not to debt repayments. Some might argue that there
is little incentive for creditors to take a humanitarian move
like this, while others would say that the best chance of a
full recovery of debt would be from a functional, healthy
economy.

With this in mind, IFLR is polling readers on the following
question:

With Venezuela installing a new president and a
potential new administration, should the international finance
industry consider reducing and/or deferring claims on Venezuela
and its public sector borrowers so as not to further hamper its
economic reconstruction?

Results will be published in the next edition of IFLR, with
full analysis from investors and advisers with a stake in the
country.

Click here to contribute and take the
survey, or input http://bit.ly/venezuelapoll into your
browser. To discuss the survey in more detail, please contact
john.crabb@euromoneyny.com

IFLR publishes its monthly poll question on iflr.com and
Linkedin group page iflr.com/LinkedIn. Throughout the month,
IFLR’s editorial team gather the responses and
interview selected respondents.